


Alchemical Knowledge

by Burgie



Series: Katja Joins Team Good AU [66]
Category: Star Stable Online
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-15 08:08:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10552960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Katja tags along on a mission with Louisa.





	

“Well, what do you know, I haven’t seen that number in a while,” said Louisa, opening the message on her phone.

“Lisa’s?” asked Alex hopefully.

“Not my Lisa,” said Louisa. “Lisa Rockwell. She wanted my help a while ago because her husband was poisoned when he fell into Pi’s swamp and swallowed some of the water.”

“Ew, he drank that shit? Nasty,” said Katja. They were all standing around in the vineyard, Katja standing as close to Alex as she could get.

“Accidentally, of course,” said Louisa. “There was a Will-o-the-Wisp, it tried to drag him under water but he slipped and hit his head on a rock. Unfortunately, when the spell broke, he swallowed some water.”

“Oh yeah, I remember now,” said Alex. “And she tried curing him with Jorvik Root, but the poison prevents him from eating it.”

“That sounds familiar,” said Katja. “Can I come with you to help out?”

“That’s a good idea,” said Alex. “The more people you help, the more friends you’ll gain.”

“No, I genuinely want to help,” said Katja. “I know poisons, remember? From when I used to be bad? Avalon brought it up in my interrogation.”

“I try not to think about that,” said Alex.

“Well, you shouldn’t,” said Louisa. “If you can’t find a way to accept her past, people will use it against you.”

“Which reformed cartoon villain had that happen?” asked Katja, smirking at her. Louisa blushed and muttered something about fanfics, making Katja laugh.

“She’s right, though,” said Alex. “But maybe you can use your talents for good now.”

“Can’t I just do something nice just for the sake of it?” asked Katja with a sigh.

“Not when the druids are watching your every move,” said Alex.

“Ugh, fine,” said Katja. “But I still want to help.”

“Well, change into something fitting and I’ll do the same,” said Louisa. “And I’ll grab the right horse.” She rode off, leaving the two lovers alone.

“It must be hard, choosing the right outfit and horse for the occasion,” said Katja.

“You know it’s not that simple for Soul Riders,” said Alex. “She can talk to her horses so it’s more like the horses say who wants to join her. The outfit part takes longer. Speaking of, what are you going to wear?”

“Isn’t this good enough?” asked Katja, looking down at her pale blue jeans and pink spaghetti-strap top.

“She’ll probably wear khaki because the sick guy is in an old bunker, and dark clothes because it’s so serious,” said Alex. “But since you’re going to be playing the role of alchemist, maybe you could bring out your old outfit?”

“Great idea, only that sweater is gone now,” said Katja. “And I’ve heard that the weather in Epona is strange, so it’ll probably be too warm for all those layers.”

“What about the coat?” asked Alex.

“I dunno,” said Katja. “It might be too…” She trailed off, and Alex sighed as she saw her girlfriend biting her lip.

“Okay,” said Alex. “Wear a cheery outfit to a risky mission.”

“Gods, it was easier when I just had the one outfit,” said Katja, finally walking into the manor.

Picking out an outfit seemed to take an age, but Louisa still wasn’t there by the time Katja got back. Alex grinned as she saw what Katja was wearing, and Katja smiled and blushed as she pulled her coat tighter around herself.

“It might be cold there,” said Katja, still smiling as Alex took her in her arms and kissed her.

“You do look different without the skirt and sweater and boots, but you’re still beautiful,” said Alex. Katja giggled as Alex kissed her neck. She’d eventually picked out a white singlet top and khaki pants similar in style to Alex’s, as well as black leather boots.

Someone cleared her throat, and Alex and Katja turned to see Louisa sitting atop a gorgeous Friesian Sport Horse.

“Are you ready to go?” asked Louisa. “Velvet is eager to go.” She petted the cherry bay neck of the mare, who was shifting her hooves in preparation of moving.

“Yeah, okay, I’ll just get Stalker,” said Katja. “I’d get my kit but I don’t have it.”

“Did you leave it behind?” asked Alex.

“Yes, on a battlefield approximately three centuries ago,” said Katja. “Or was it a century? I can’t remember. It was either destroyed in battle or in an apartment fire. Time is… weird.”

“How does she not get all the versions of you confused?” asked Louisa as Katja walked off to fetch Stalker from the stable.

“Who says she doesn’t?” asked Alex. “She’s always telling me about how I was in a past life.” She smiled, though. “I love it.”

“Okay, so the idea of having love that’s lasted for centuries is kinda romantic,” said Louisa. “Extremely, actually. The one good thing about destiny, I guess.”

“Right?” said Alex, grinning. “I don’t even care that we’ve had to kill each other in past lives.”

“I’m glad,” said Katja, riding up on Stalker. 

“Yay, you’re back, let’s go,” said Louisa.

“At least we didn’t dress too similar,” said Katja as they rode off after waving goodbye to Alex. “Anyway, fill me in on this situation.”

“Well, Thomas Rockwell fell into Pi’s swamp like I told you, and then he started to become angry and started to look sick. He holed up in the bunker, but every night, he’d come back to check on his horse and his wife. Every night, she saw his condition. But every night, they kissed, to prove that he was still human, I guess,” said Louisa.

“That sounds kind of familiar,” said Katja. “Neither of us were ever sick like that, but… the forbidden romance thing with the kisses. We did that all the time in at least one life.”

“Proving that you weren’t pure evil by kissing her,” said Louisa.

“Yeah, exactly,” said Katja. “Even now, only… it’s her proving it to me.”

“If it helps, I don’t think you’re evil,” said Louisa. “You probably were in the past, but Alex couldn’t love someone who was pure evil.”

“The Light of Aideen that resides in the soul of a Soul Rider prevents that from happening,” said Katja. “Among other things.”

“Like what?” asked Louisa.

“Too angsty, change the subject please,” said Katja. “Why’d you bring Velvet?”

“She took on the personality of a character in a fanfic I read once,” said Louisa. “Velvet Remedy, the nurse character.”

“Makes sense,” said Katja.

“I do have another nurse character horse but Velvet just seemed more fitting,” said Louisa. 

“Right,” said Katja. She was silent while Louisa talked to the Rockwell woman, and then she rode alongside her as Louisa carried Lisa on horseback to the bunker. Katja didn’t say much, but she did agree with Louisa that the Rockwells had very pretty eyes.

Katja finally became more interested when Louisa found the alchemist.

“That sounds like…” said Frederik.

“Curse of the Swamp,” said Katja at the same time as he did.

“Oh, have you heard of this too?” asked Frederik.

“Yes, a very long time ago,” said Katja. “I can’t quite remember how it was cured, though. It was so long ago.”

“I’ve collected every alchemy recipe in my book,” said Frederik. “I’ll have a cure somewhere.”

“Oh, really? Could I borrow it?” asked Katja. “I’m an alchemist too.”

“Ummmm… I’d rather you didn’t,” said Frederik. “Sorry, it’s just that I don’t want my recipes falling into the wrong hands.”

“Oh… I understand,” said Katja, biting her lip again. Louisa sighed, then explained to Frederik what needed to be done. 

“We could’ve mixed it into his meatballs,” said Louisa. “Why didn’t we?”

“If his body rejects the Jorvik Root, what’s to stop him from throwing it back up?” said Katja. “You said they kiss every night, put it in lipstick or lip gloss or something.”

“That’s an excellent idea! I’ll need a hair from him, though,” said Frederik. “Do you think that you could go back to the bunker and get a hair from him?”

“I can try,” said Louisa.

“I’ll help you,” said Katja. 

“That was a genius move with the lip gloss,” said Louisa as they rode back. “How did-“

“You know,” said Katja, curling her hands into fists around the reins. Stalker snorted, so she loosened her grip. Then he stopped, so she took a few deep breaths until she calmed down.

“Well, now it’s a kiss to cure,” said Louisa. And suddenly, Katja didn’t look angry anymore. She looked upset as she galloped towards the bunker, but not angry. She was angrily wiping her eyes when Louisa got there.

“I’m fine!” Katja snapped before Louisa could say anything. She took a few deep breaths, then stepped inside the bunker. Louisa shivered at the sound of Thomas moving around somewhere down there.

“What will you do?” asked Louisa.

“The thing I was born for,” said Katja. “I’ll find him and sing. You find his hair.”

On her way back outside, Louisa passed Katja standing in front of Thomas and singing. He was frozen, and she was also still, but Louisa could sense her power. It made her shudder, like being in Scarecrow Hill, but the effect wasn’t as strong. She still hurried past, though. When Katja rejoined her, there was a tiny smile on her lips.

“It feels so good to be doing that for a good reason,” said Katja. “I haven’t felt so powerful in a long time.”

“And I haven’t felt so scared since Halloween,” said Louisa, shivering.

“Well, you got the hair, right?” asked Katja.

“Yep,” said Louisa.

“Good,” said Katja. She supervised while Louisa made the lip gloss, and then rode back to the Rockwell house with her.

“How are we going to keep him still while mum kisses him, though?” asked Edward.

“I have an idea,” said Louisa.

“Don’t traumatise the boy,” said Katja. “Why don’t you two block the front door and I’ll block the back door once you get him inside?”

“And how will you stop him?” asked Edward, looking over Katja’s slim frame.

“I’m flattered,” said Katja. “But I can hold my own.” Louisa would have laughed, but she’d just seen how Katja could hold someone still with her voice.

It was fortunate that Katja didn’t need to stop Thomas from bolting, because she froze when the transformative kiss happened. Then, when Thomas was back to normal, Louisa heard the back door close and knew that her friend was gone.

“You guys reconnect, I have to go after her,” said Louisa, darting outside and mounting Velvet as quickly as she safely could. She was glad now that she hadn’t taken her helmet off when she’d gone inside the Rockwell residence.

Even though he no longer glowed or had flaming hooves, Stalker was easy to pick out. His white-haired rider was also easy to pick out as they took the turn towards Fort Maria.

“Katja, wait!” Louisa called after her. Her friend didn’t stop, but Louisa knew that she’d stop eventually. After all, Fort Maria’s doors were closed, and it wasn’t like Stalker could fly. Sure enough, she found Katja standing in front of the closed doors, too upset to sing them open.

“What do you want?” asked Katja, her voice sounding strangled. Louisa dismounted Velvet, who wandered out onto the little overlook. Stalker was also standing there, though he looked more like a sentinel.

“You looked upset,” said Louisa.

“Very observant of you,” said Katja, wiping her eyes. She was still looking at the doors. “Don’t you have a day to save?”

“They can wait, it’s not like it’s urgent. Thanks to you,” said Louisa.

“You would’ve come up with the lip gloss idea eventually,” said Katja.

“No, I was going to put it in his food,” said Louisa. “We would’ve wasted time and Jorvik Root on that.”

“I only thought of it because that’s how I poisoned Alex a few times,” said Katja.

“Well, now you’ve saved someone with it,” said Louisa. “And your knowledge will probably be able to save so many more people.”

“Yeah, and that’s gonna help a lot when I only know it because I used it to hurt or kill people before,” said Katja.

“But you’re not that person anymore,” said Louisa. “You’ve changed, you’re trying to be good now.” Katja gasped and wiped her eyes.

“Stars, you’ve finally said it,” said Katja. “It’s a miracle.”

“Well, you are,” said Louisa. “You’re trying so hard to be good, even when everyone still sees you as evil. A lot of other people would’ve given up, but you didn’t.”

“It’s because I want to be good,” said Katja, fierce emotion in her voice. “I feel good about helping the Rockwells. I feel good about being with Alex.”

“I bet you do,” said Louisa. Katja snorted.

“You know what I mean,” said Katja. Her voice was lighter now, though.

“The Rockwells are probably waiting for me now,” said Louisa. “Will you be alright?”

“I’m not going to take a swan dive off a cliff, if that’s what you mean,” said Katja. “But maybe some praise will do me good. Stalker, come.” Her horse trotted over and she mounted him, rubbing his ears and mane while she silently communicated with him. Louisa waited on Velvet, and then the two riders rode back down into New Hillcrest, where the Rockwell family was waiting.

“Louisa, you’re back! Thank you so much for helping us,” said Thomas.

“It was mostly Katja,” said Louisa. “I just got the hair and made the lip gloss. She was the one who thought of using the lip gloss, I was just going to put it in your food.”

“We’d already tried that,” said Lisa. “The poison doesn’t allow the food to sit in his stomach.”

“I thought that would happen,” said Katja.

“But now dad’s better and we can be a family again!” said Edward. “Thanks, Katja. You saved our family.”

“Happy to help,” said Katja, feeling a thousand times lighter. She smiled all the way back to the manor, and she saw Alex grin triumphantly at Louisa when Katja got off and embraced her girlfriend.

“I take it the mission was a success?” asked Alex.

“Louisa got the ugliest dress I’ve ever seen, but yeah, it felt good to help out and save a family,” said Katja, still grinning.

“I’m so glad,” said Alex. “You haven’t seemed this happy since…”

“Since last night?” Katja murmured. Alex blushed and kissed her.

“I was going to say, since we agreed to give this a try,” said Alex.

“And they didn’t even question my motives, well the alchemist did, but he just didn’t want his book of recipes to fall into the wrong hands,” said Katja. “It was so refreshing. Not like helping the druids.”

“What alchemist?” asked Alex.

“I think his name was Frederik,” said Katja.

“Oh, him?” said Alex, her eyes shining with excitement. “Too bad you couldn’t get your hands on that book. Though, suppose we asked for it for druid business?”

“You can try,” said Katja. “But I like the way you think.”

“I might rebel against the druids, but I can use them for leverage too,” said Alex. “Do you know how many restricted books Linda has borrowed for ‘secret Soul Rider business’?”

“I can guess,” said Katja, giggling. “And I know that you haven’t paid an electricity bill since you developed your powers.”

“Guilty,” said Alex. “But it helps mama out.”

“Do you think Louisa will abuse her powers too when she gets them?” asked Katja.

“I dunno, she seems responsible,” said Alex.

“So do you, and yet,” said Katja, her eyes twinkling with amusement.

“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed your little mission,” said Alex.

“Oh, I loved it! How often does Louisa get these missions?” asked Katja.

“They’re kind of few and far between,” said Alex. “The horse market always needs help every fortnight, though.”

“Pass,” said Katja. “I’ve heard things about that horse market.”

“Well then, I’ll tell her to let you know when she gets another mission,” said Alex. “Or you can tell her yourself.”

“Where did she go?” asked Katja. “We did ride in together.”

“Probably searching for Lisa again,” said Alex. “Or back home. Or in the library with Linda, reading.”

“Remind me to get her phone number,” said Katja. “Uh, so I can talk to her when I can’t find her.”

“Good idea,” said Alex. “Anyway, I’m gonna go ask Linda if she wants to grab this alchemy book.”

“Good luck with that,” said Katja. “I’ll just be inside, watching Jorflix.” It was too late in the day now to do much, and there were some interesting shows on Jorflix. But at least this time, she wouldn’t be using the shows to escape from negative thoughts.


End file.
